I’m an Australian composer and sound designer.

I started my musical career in Perth playing guitar with David McComb in Blok Music, the first incarnation of the Triffids , then after a year playing bass in a Tom Waits ‘cover-band ‘Crokodill’, I began playing guitar and bass with power-pop trio Flavors. I then joined the post-p[f]unk three-piece, Big Red Tractor, where I contributed vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards and ‘bugle’,to that band’s influential blend of minimalist trance grooves and chant vocals.

After relocating to Sydney in the early 1980s with BRT, I branched into engineering and production, working on albums and remixes for artists as varied as Machinations, INXS, The Angels, wry-core grunge band VRAG, and The Libertines, (precursors to Machine Gun Fellatio) and pop dance ‘sensation’ Collette, with DJ Pee Wee.

While working as a session musician, and sound designer I was offered…  (and very gladly accepted) , by the truly pioneering audio genius  Simon Leadley a position as sound engineer at TrackDown recording studios, where I worked for several years recording bands, Film and Tv scores, and pretty much anything that walked through the door, making it a fantastic grounding for learning the dark arts of audio. I then started working at most of the studios in Sydney as an electronic programmer for a truckload of bands while also forming a duo GANK,  in collaboration with the prodigy engineer Paula Jones where we produced what was at that time very cutting edge productions techniques that would be adopted by others years later all through the middle of the 1980’s)

I was then was asked to work producing singles and albums working with local and international producers like the rather prolific Gill Norton, for dozens of acts from all around Australia.

In partnership with Simon Leadley and Tim Ryan, I set up an editing system at Trackdown studio with a DigiDesign AudioMedia system, (the precursor to the now ubiquitous ProTools),  and we introduced  many musicians to the techniques of digital editing.

I began working in film in 1986 with a music and sound collage for the ABC documentary, The Built Environment. I have since composed and recorded numerous scores for television including Kaz Cooke’s ‘Gorgeous’ (AFI Winner), an avant-garde classical score for ‘Muttaburrasarus’ (AFI Nominee) , and a slew of first films for up and coming directors, like Cate Shortland’s ‘Joy’ along with two seasons underscore for the commercial soap ‘Paradise Beach’.

I have also composed and co-composed cues on feature films with composers Felicity Fox (Redheads and The Last Crop) and Alistair Jones (Blood Brothers, Vacant Possession, Radiance) while continuing composing for short films, television, theatre and commercials.

Toward the end of 1989 I met and worked with film composer Hans Zimmer on Green Card at Rhino Studio, at the time Sydneys top recording studio, where I was invited to Los Angeles by Hans.

On a rather extended trip to London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles, Hans was kind enough to put me up, while he was composing Regarding Henry, where I met some kid called JJ Abrahams, at Hans’s studio Media Ventures, before then making a side trip to San Francisco to the Lucas Ranch to preview Backdraft, where I was introduced to some guy called George Lucas, and chatted to the very amenable Ron Howard – about baseball, (of course).

Here in Sydney I have also worked on sound design for Anaconda 2 and assisted Hans Zimmer on the recording of score for Mission Impossible 2.

My musical abilities have extended to tracks for Graeme Murphy’s ballet ‘Fornicon‘, and to the recording of two albums with Egyptian vocalist Shadee Selim. The Shadee project took almost four years to complete, with multi-track tapes being sent between Sydney and Cairo to record live performances by some of Egypt’s top musicians. The first album, Ya Yo, was launched in December 96 in Cairo, where it was both critically and commercially acclaimed, the follow up EP Mahabouba receiving airplay on Sydney’s Drum+Bass programs.

I was invited to join a select group of post production companies working together in  post house Guillotine in Redfern Sydney, where I composed music and designed sounds for way too many television commercial campaigns, music videos and film scores for several international directors and some of Australia’s top directors and advertising agencies.

In 2000 I composed the world version of Hoytes cinema chains new Cinemaxx billboard, with Simon Leadley providing the superb Surround Mix.

In 2004 I composed and produced all the music and sound design for SBS television’s Re-Branding, encompassing a wide range of styles, from a melange of classical and ethnic instruments from around the world, to very abstract synthetic sound design work.

Following (yet another) trip to Paris, in 2006 I moved my studio to the glorious Bondi Beach where I continue ‘shaping noise’ for television commercials, short films and some feature film work, and have been taking on ‘The Wiggles’ with some music for children.

Toward the end of 2007 I acted as music editor and mixer (stereo and 5.1) for the TV documentary ‘Seed Hunter’

In 2010 I  completed a score for Australian feature ‘The Clinic’ with Simon Leadley,  Jason Fernandez and Angela Little.

I continue to write my own compositions for a follow up to my album  ‘tHings fRom iN hEre’,

Im collaborating with Trevor Richards in Fremantle WA on some new tunes,

I  have finished the course design and 3 years lecturing at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. (it became evident that working in a Kafkaesque Hell is not much fun.)

Over the last few years i have been Co-Designing software instruments with the amazing MODWHEEL.CO.NZ  guys, and doing a few small things with the charming Pendle Poucher, in the UK in designing Kontakt instruments.

More recently I was involved with the design of the quite amazing Arturia miniFreak.

Check the Sound Design Page for details

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Commissions:

Im now able to accept commissions for end of 2037

Deeply involved in assisting Arturia to design some amazing musical hardware and software.

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Studio:

Kirke Godfrey is sad to announce the closing of his previous luxury studio, Click HERE to view the facility!
Its no longer bringing the life and vibe of Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach to your recordings. (whether you like it or not)

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Consultation:

Im now available for further web based corruption and ruination of your compositions.

Contact me for current completely exorbitant rates.